For those of you who still travel despite your allergies, like Mylène, doesn't it give you a lot of work to travel? I feel that if I had to do all this extra work, I would not rest very much and since you generally travel during holiday or vacation time, you would not really rest. Therefore, I prefer staying in my own little controlled environment where I can truly relax and enjoy my time off from work.

Thoughts? Especially from Mylène since I remember you are the one with the mobile kitchen in your trunk.

We have been doing it for many years now. We always find that it is lot of work in someways, but we have gotten more relaxed by doing it. I always liked to travel and I had to travel every four years with my Husbands work. That was harder- I had to make a new home .
As my children are grown up now we have taken some trips and we cooked the meals ahead of time. It was fun to see the apartment my one son had and the town where he was to. I made pizza for me and the other people ordered one in I felt we are eatting the samething.
We have gone across Canada in one direction totally and then to Manitobia the other way.
I like to go cities as we are to a rual area. Then you can go to Museums, the ROM, the Galleries, plays etc.
A microwave is faster then a resturant. I know that my Hubby has loved his traveling that he did without me to some very interesting places. I have gifts from those places.So being able to travel some places and see differnt things and people is enjoyable as long as we bring our supplies which now include a small electric cooler, bbq that is portable, some plates that do not break, and lots more. It is a sense of freedom also.
I guess this comes from the fact when I was younger I lived in a another Country for a few years while I was a teenager.

I live in my controlled environment most of the year... so when I want a change of pace, I travel. The first couple of times that I packed absolutely everything, it was a lot of organizing and all, but now it is a lot easier as I know the products I like to bring and all of that. It takes soo much of the stress away from regular traveling that I feel relaxed and the change of scenery is relaxing for me. My dishes, pots and ustensils are in a bin just waiting for me to take them on my next trip and the safe food is no more trouble than packing clothes.

Once I get there, I don't find it too much trouble. It is a little more than you normally think if you travel (who would like to do dishes on a trip?), but I pack my lunch in the morning and return to the hotel for dinner. If I am at a family member's house, I still use most of my stuff, keep everything in my own fridge and cook my food before or after them. Leaving in the morning and coming back for dinner and probably going out right after is not any different than waiting 2 hours in a restaurant to eat like everyone else... except for the fact that you do the dishes . I always make easy meals (and mostly 'on pot meals') when I'm away, so it doesn't take to much time.

Getting away from my own routine and the same 4 walls give me a chance to appreciate life a lot more. I don't like the beach and museums, but I do find interesting little shops and all to see that I don't see in my own town. There are soo many nice places to see even if you travel by car, it's not worth giving up just because you don't want the extra 5 minutes of packing and extra food preperation time (and you can easily use disposable dishes to cut on the dish washing time ).

It is soooo worth the work. I cannot imagine not going anywhere because of my sons food allergies. You just pack up the cooler and go and explore. It is much cheaper anyway. We know all the beautiful picnic sites and it is usually near the ocean with a beautiful sandy beach. I cannot imagine not doing that just because I have to pack our food. I think my family would be missing out big time.

We did a nice trip through Banff and Jasper this summer and it was most amazing. The scenery is absolutely incredible--very restful to the soul. We got suites with a kitchen and I did a lot of my own cooking. My husband barbecued and I just had him put tinfoil under my portion of meat. I prewashed my dishes from the unit before using them. We travelled with another family who also has to worry about food allergies. This was nice because we took turns cooking for the whole group, so each Mom got to have a couple of nights off but still feel safe. It was a wonderful vacation. If we stayed home, I would have been cooking anyway.

youngvader, I would have to say it depends on the personnality. In this area, I only have my mom, dad and sister, so all my family is spread out between Moncton NB and London ON. If I want to see them, sometimes I just can't sit at home and wait for them. I am also one that enjoys to drive for hours to see different trees than the ones I see in my own backyard . And believe me, with the little money I spend when I'm away from home, I'm not traveling for the spending! This weekend, I am going to my friend's wedding out of town and would not miss it for the world! I misssed out on too many special occasions as it is, I'm not staying home out of principle .

Now, my next challenge is to find a few friends and drive down to Disney! (that one would be for spendings )

Well, I'm back from visiting relatives in the States and from a conference (also in the States). It was a challenge since I was gone for a week. . . but manageable.

I brought food that I wouldn't likely be able to find easily and pots and pans, etc. I brought a coffee grinder to grind up grains for porridge or for flatbread as well. Next time I'm paying heed to Karen's suggestion and will bring microwavable instant rice!!

Here are a few things that I've found particularly useful:

--a small plastic washtub for converting a hotel bathroom sink or a single sink in a kitchenette into a double sink.

--a pillow with a cover that keeps the dust mites away.

I baked/fried flatbread made with rice flour, tapioca flour, etc. in a small egg cooker! (I'm not up on all the varieties of egg cookers, but this one is a small electric skillet.)

Visiting my grandparents went smoothly. My grandparents tried not to eat nuts while I was over there (in the past that hasn't been the case--they didn't fully understand why we feel this is necessary). But I still had to be really careful and watch for potential problems. My grandmother kept on trying to help me cook, but I talked to her about it--she said she understands why I need to cook for myself but said that she would keep on trying to find things that I could eat I tried to eat a few things that she provided that wouldn't be likely to be cross contaminated with anything.

It is tricky---I never eat anything stored in ziploc bags because my grandmother reuses bags and sometimes stores nuts in them. I noticed that she kept brownies wrapped up in tin foil in the fruit bowl (even if there weren't nuts, I'm anaphylactic to egg.) I treat all kitchen surfaces as if they are potentially contaminated--this time, I watched as my grandfather took a brownie (out of the fruit bowl) and put it on the table and *then* went to the cupboard to get a plate. I didn't want to say anything because I knew that my grandfather would feel really badly and having to try to remember to avoid cross contamination would worry him. My grandparents don't wash their hands after eating things with egg in them (and I've never asked them to) so I don't want to eat food that my grandmother has prepared.

So while eating at my grandparents' still poses a risk, I feel better about it because they've made the concession about the nuts, and I feel like they understand the allergy situation better now. I'm choosing to take the other risks. I think also my stress levels about the allergy situation have gone down some compared to the last time I visited (last year).

The food situation *does* put me at a disadvantage at conferences. I had to stay at a more expensive hotel with a kitchenette that was a 15-20 minute drive away from the conference (I could have gotten a room closer that has a microwave and fridge, but since I cook everything from scratch, I really did need a couple of burners. Maybe I should consider buying a hotplate next time.)

My schedule was packed even though I didn't go to all the events. On most days, there were 9 hours of scheduled panels and lectures to attend followed by special events in the evening. Seriously, if I went to everything, I'd be on campus for over 12 hours a day. Obviously I couldn't do that and do all the cooking too so I skipped some of the lectures and events which I would have otherwise attended.

I brought a small cooler with me to the conference. I could have opted to store it in a room in the building the conference was at, but I just ended up lugging it around with me the whole time.

By the time we got to lunch, the tables were often covered in crumbs, and so I tended to eat my lunch out of my tupperware containers which I placed on my lap. I'm probably too sensitive to things like this, but body language is important when meeting new people, and it feels like I'm slightly apart from the group when I'm sitting back slightly from the table. I went to a reception in which the tables and chairs were set very closely together, and it was extremely difficult to find a seat without bopping anyone in the head with my cooler or my book bag. At least no one got injured by my cooler

I'll need to go to conferences from time to time, but I won't go to as many as I otherwise would because of all the extra work and effort. I suppose though that I will get more efficient at packing and organizing over time. One can only hope!

Last edited by Helen on Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Congratulations, Helen, on managing your trip! The main thing is, you managed it, and that's GREAT! It sounds like you learned a lot regarding management of your allergies when away from home for an extended time, and when the time comes to make this type of trip again, you will manage it even better next time! I can appreciate that you will not make this type of effort frequently, but it must feel good to have done it - successfully! I'm sure travelling for pleasure will be easier for you - when the time comes.

Our family is making our first full weekend trip this coming weekend. In 2003, the 2 trips we made that year ended in major allergic reactions for our son, so we have not travelled since - with the exception of 2 separate overnight visits in Niagara at a waterpark/hotel. Now that our son is 4.5 years old, we feel better prepared for travel - both in terms of our son's age, and our learning to manage this type of travel. This weekend, we are travelling to meet up with a group of about 30 people. We are the only people bringing our kids along. We will be staying in a regular hotel room (along with the other 30 people), and we will be bringing all of our food along already cooked. I'm bringing food for 2 dinners: dinner 1) stuffed pork tenderloin (cooked the night before, and to be served cold), cold pasta, raw veggies; dinner 2) chicken teriyaki (cooked 2 nights before, and to be served cold), Japanese rice (we're bringing our rice cooker) and raw broccoli. Breakfasts and lunches are easy, but I found it a bit challenging to come up with suitable meals to eat away from home in a hotel room.

It's definitely a big step for our family to be moving towards travelling again. It takes a lot more preparation, but I think it is SO worth it! There's no way we would consider boarding a plane, or venturing too far from home (at least, not yet) but I am SO happy to be making a small trip and feel we've considered all necessary precautions to make this trip enjoyable. Maybe next year we'll rent a cottage?!

I don't take kitchens in my hotel rooms now... I bring my own burners and fridge. Too much washing before even getting started . Last spring in March I went on 5 different road trips accross Quebec and although I did still learn from a couple of them, I am a lot better at it and have absolutely no fear at leaving again this fall (10 trips in october november time frame ) I do not pack lightly and am pretty proud of it!

This is the first time that I've attempted to cook exclusively in a hotel since the diagnosis of the wheat, corn, potato allergies. Travelling wasn't all that bad when I could eat bread and crackers and things. So I *am* relieved that I managed. And, yes, I *can* fit lunch *and* dinner for the day (including cooked grain, cooked fruit, cooked vegetables and meat, yogurt) in one small cooler---but getting all the containers back in the darn thing after taking them out and unsettling the ice was another matter!

Mylene, you sure travel a lot! You must have the packing thing down pat by now.

I just heard about those burners you can buy recently---can you basically plug them in anywhere? Or are there safety hazards you have to consider? Do you actually bring a refrigerator or is a cooler that you can plug in good enough?

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